Ceremonies
When you’ve decided on the date and venue for your ceremony, you both need to give notice of your intention to marry or form a civil partnership. The notice is a legal statement signed by you. You need to give notice at the register office of the district where you live. You must have lived there for at least seven consecutive days. You can find a register office on GOV.UK. You each have to pay a fee to give notice. See our registration charges for details.
If you're marrying in the Church of England or Church in Wales, you don't need to give notice of marriage at the register office. The vicar will deal with all the legal requirements, including the reading of banns or issue of a Common Licence.
When you can give notice
You can give notice when you're within 12 months of the date of your marriage or civil partnership, but no later than 29 days before the date. Your ceremony must take place within 12 months of giving notice.
If you don't give notice of your marriage or civil partnership your ceremony can't go ahead.
Booking your appointment to give notice
If you both live in Barnsley you need to attend Barnsley Register Office together to give notice. If one of you lives in another district, they’ll need to give notice at their own local register office.
You can book your appointment to give notice online. You'll have 30 minutes to fill in the online form. If you don't complete your booking in this time you'll lose your chosen slot.
Attending your appointment
Your appointment will be at Barnsley Register Office in the town hall. The entrance is on the Lancaster Gate side of the building, next to the fountains. Please make sure you arrive on time. If you're more than five minutes late we won't be able to see you and you'll need to book a new slot.
At your appointment you’ll be asked to give information about yourself and your partner. You'll also be asked for the details of the venue where your ceremony is taking place.
Documents you need to provide
You need to bring some original documents to your appointment as proof of identity. Each person giving notice needs to bring these. See our list of documents needed for giving notice of marriage or civil partnership for details of what we can accept.
If you don’t bring all of the documents needed you won’t be able to give notice.
All documents need to be original hard copies. We can't accept electronic documents, including photos of originals or screenshots.
What happens after giving notice
Your notice will be displayed on a public notice board in Barnsley Register Office for 28 clear days. This is to allow any member of the public to lodge any legal reason why your ceremony can't take place.
After the 28 days (and if no legal impediment has been received) your marriage/civil partnership schedule will be issued. This is the legal document that's signed at your ceremony. It'll be issued automatically to the registration district where your wedding/civil partnership is being held.
If your ceremony's being held at a religious building, you’ll need to collect the schedule from the register office in the district where it's taking place. You'll need to take this to the person conducting your ceremony. The registrar will tell you about this at the time you give notice.
Non British or Irish nationals
If either of you are not a British or Irish national, you must both give your notice at Barnsley Register Office. You'll need to contact us on (01226) 773555 to book an appointment - you won't be able to book this online.
You can only give notice if you’ve both lived in England or Wales for at least seven consecutive days.
Changing your venue
If you change the venue of your ceremony you need to give and pay for new notices. Your new notice must be given at least 29 days before your ceremony.
Your ceremony can only take place at the venue named on the notice of ceremony.